Church History :

The First Presbyterian Church of Idaho Falls was organized 112 years ago by eight charter members in a dusty village of just over 1,000 people. That dusty village was then know as Eagle Rock and it centered around a toll bridge. Charles and Martha Ramsay of New York moved to Eagle Rock in 1889 and are the two people most responsible for the birth of our present church. Although the Ramsays attended the Baptist church after moving here, they began to find a few other people who expressed an interest in organizing a Presbyterian Church in the vicinity. The Ramsays, along with six other charter members contacted the Reverend Samuel Wishard, a synodical missionary, and he formally organized The first Presbyterian Church on April 29,1891. Building began that same year on a downtown location at the corner of Shoup Avenue and A street. On August 26 of that same year Eagle Rock became Idaho Falls and the First Presbyterian Church of Idaho Falls was born. The small church, dedicated on April 24, 1892 was built entirely of wood at the cost of $1600. A beautiful 1200-pound bell was purchased for the bell tower, and the ladies of the church held "parlor concerts" to help make the payments. As the church continued to grow, the small church on Shoup began to become cramped. Membership had by then risen to over 260 parishioners. In 1917, during the tenure of Reverend Arthur Richards, the small frame church was sold. This was necessary to provide a down payment on a new building. Having no where else to go, the determined congregation built and moved into a small structure on Eastern Avenue, located just south of the present day Museum of Idaho. Constructed in one week at the cost of $318, it was covered with tar paper and had a sawdust floor. It was too cold in the winter to hold services and so hot in the summer that the tarpaper dripped onto the worshippers.